Heartrepreneur® Radio | Episode 128 | Mindfulness Meditation: Bringing It Back To The Consciousness Level with Colette Ellis

There are multitudes of women and men who are glorifying busy and wearing it like it’s a badge of honor. Staying up to date, staying on top of things, and being in the know are coming together to create this sense of busyness and stress of what they call FOMO. People have this fear of missing out on something and everyone’s walking around tethered to the phone or devices. Lifestyle and wellness coach Colette Ellis wants to disrupt that conversation and help us refocus on what’s going on inside and what’s important so that we can be happier and more fulfilled. She helps busy women who are under pressure to hold it all together to reduce their stress and improve their well-being. Colette touches on mindfulness meditation and emotional freedom technique to help clear limiting beliefs and rejuvenate your mindset.

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Mindfulness Meditation: Bringing It Back To The Consciousness Level with Colette Ellis

I have with me Coach Colette Ellis. She helps busy women who are under pressure to hold it all together to reduce their stress and improve their well-being. She leads seminars and programs on mindfulness, meditation, and Emotional Freedom Technique, which I use to help clear limiting beliefs and rejuvenate your mindset. She also hosts New Moon Circles for women who are seeking monthly support and inspiration to manifest their dreams. She has the signature Start Within coaching program that helps women to reconnect to their inner wisdom and lead their lives with authenticity and confidence, which is a Heartrepreneur. Welcome to Heartrepreneur Radio, Coach Colette.

Thank you so much. It’s great to be here.

It’s awesome to have you. How did you figure out your niche and that these busy women needed some help?

I’m based in New York City, so there are multitudes of busy women and men that live in New York City. How do we stop glorifying busy? When we say, “How are you?” You’re like, “I’m so busy.” Wearing that as a badge of honor and wanting to disrupt that conversation and help us refocus on what’s going on inside and what’s important, so that we can be happier and more fulfilled.

What’s happening? It feels like society, no matter what country I travel to, some a little bit more laid back from others, but it seems like people are stressed out. What’s going on with that?

There are a number of things happening at the same time and ironically, to me, dealing with technology has made so many things easier and more convenient. It also made us so tethered and tied to our business, our career, our professional endeavors. Even with the social side of posting, staying up to date, staying on top of things, and being in the know. I feel that a lot of those things are coming together to create this sense of busyness, this sense of stress, this sense of what they call FOMO. People have this fear of missing out on something, fear of being separated from their phone or their devices. I’m not anti-tech. I’m pro-tech. It’s just a matter of how can we create space in our lives for more calm, for more quiet, and more reflection.

I do resonate and agree with you. There is this called FOMO, which I get. There is this fear of missing out and everyone’s walking around tethered to the phone or to whatever. I remember years ago you’d be in a restaurant, no one had any technology except maybe doctors who had pagers for in a real emergency, so we’re focused on each other and we’re being mindful and we’re in conversation. I looked around this restaurant the other day and there was a family of four. The two kids were playing on their iPads and the mother and father were both on their phones. I don’t know if there were watching videos, texting, reading email. I’m like, “Where is this? Where are we going?” What do we do? How do we handle this?

It’s the awareness. It would be interesting to see if we could ask that family if they were aware of the fact that that’s what they were doing. Once something becomes a habit, it’s unconscious, so it’s bringing it back to that level of consciousness, like, “We are four people connected to one another, intending to have a meal together. We’re all here, as in present, but are we present with one another?” The ‘no device dinners’ or creating that as an intention to say, “At least when we eat together, can we put the devices away?”

We walk around doing what we do very unconsciously and doing things that are habitual without stopping ourselves and thinking. This is a very important talk that we’re having, both for men and for women. All of us are walking around with some realm of unconscious behavior, even those who are more awake and alert and conscious. I use EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique. I know it’s one of the things that you incorporate. Can you talk a little about EFT and talk about how that has helped you and your clients? I’d love for people to know more about EFT.

Mindfulness Meditation: When we have trauma and things that happen, sometimes we don’t fully process or let go of that situation and our body can store those emotions.

I use it personally and I use it or share it with clients. I’m sure you are aware that it’s been called some things like emotion acupuncture because you’re using a lot of the same meridian points and you’re tapping with your fingers. Although you can tap around fear of needles. If you do have a fear of needles, you can start with tapping and not have to worry about being stuck. It’s all about mind-body connection, whether it’s business or stress or anxiety or even physical pain, sometimes particularly physical pain, like I say, “When is the pain in your shoulder just a pain in your shoulder or could it be something else?” I’ve done tapping in group sessions where it starts out we’re tapping around back pain and it’s like, “Let’s see if we could release some of that pain.” Then it leads to a whole uncovering of the source and the timing and what was happening at the time. When we have conversations, when we have trauma, when we have things that happen, sometimes we don’t fully process or let go of that situation and our body can store those emotions. Tapping is a great way of releasing the charge around those events.

I discovered it fourteen years ago and fell in love with it. It does help that holistic mind-body connection, releases stored, frozen emotions can make a huge difference. I was in the airport coming home from a speaking engagement and there were all kinds of delays and flights and the airport was a mess. I said, “Instead of myself getting worked up over all this, I’m going to sit here and I’m going to tap because I can’t control the situation. I can control my responses,” forgetting that I’m sitting in a crowded airport with everyone watching. I sat back and after I finished, this woman appeared next to me. She said, “What were you doing? That was fascinating.” I thought, “More people need to know these kinds of techniques and embrace these kinds of techniques.” Is that the kind of thing you do with New Moon Circles or what exactly are New Moon Circles?

I like New MoonCircles here in New York City and the New Moon is a great time to set intentions and call in what you would like to manifest in the coming months. I led those as group events where I lead a guided meditation. We talk about some of the aspects of the sign that the moon is in. It’s another opportunity for that calm, quiet, reflection. Think about planning ahead, in a more holistic way, giving ourselves that space, that time to think about what happened in the last month and how do we want to set our intentions for the month coming up?

I know that you help people tap into their authenticity and confidence. Are there any tips that you can give the audience on? Some things they can start to do now?

This concept of the system that you mentioned is called Start Within. It is about finding that time for yourself, even if it’s two minutes or five minutes. A lot of people think, “If I don’t have 25 or 30 minutes to meditate, I can’t meditate.” We can take two minutes, we can take five minutes. We can focus just on your breath. You can take time to walk, even if it’s not outside. Just even walking around in your space, giving yourself a different vantage point. I’ve had things set up when I work in my home where I changed the chair or sat in the chair on the other side of the table just to give myself a different perspective on things. Sometimes just even looking at things in a different way physically gives you that different perspective in your mind.

Tony Robbins talks about it a lot. Change your physical state, change your physiology and change your neurology. There’s so much truth to that. I love that you’re doing this. I love that you’re sharing this. What would you like to leave people with, just a tip or something you’d like them to remember from this interview with you?

When I shared about Start Within, sometimes it can seem to be scary. We live in such a busy, distracted world that we sometimes don’t want to get quiet because we’re afraid of what might come up. I say, “Do it anyway. Not in the wagging-your-finger do it anyway but allow yourself that space and allow yourself that time. The more that you do it, the more comfortable you will become with listening to yourself and asking those inner questions. Sometimes even being surprised by what comes up.

I love being open, being curious and asking questions. One of the things I love to talk to my client and family members about is you need to learn coaching skills, not because you’re going to be a coach, but simply because you can ask yourself some incredible coaching questions. You can get some powerful answers and dig deeper, finding out who you are and authentically getting in touch and more grounded. How can people connect with you, get some more juicy info, and if they’re in New York, join your New Moon Circles? How can they do that?

I am @Coach_Colette on Twitter and Instagram. Those are great ways to reach me via DM. I’m based in New York City and we are in the Chelsea area. I also do work with people virtually.

I want to thank you for being here and honored you took time out to be on the show. I resonate with you. I love the work that you’re doing. You’re a true Heartrepreneur. You added value not just for females but for the males as well. I appreciate you coming here.

Thank you. I enjoyed the discussion.

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About Colette Ellis

Coach Colette Ellis is an author, coach and public speaker on mindfulness, motivation, and workplace stress. Her book Focus on Your Vision helps readers clarify priorities and optimize their work-life balance.

As founder of InStep Consulting, she has traveled the globe facilitating personal growth and professional training for leaders from countries including Australia, Botswana, Bulgaria, Chile, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, and Vietnam. Clients transform their lives and realize results faster via her insightful coaching and interactive seminars on employee wellness, leadership development, and team building.

A featured contributor for eHow on Workplace Morale, her advice has appeared in several media outlets including Real Simple Magazine, CBS News.com, CNN.com, and NY Daily News. Colette has been a featured speaker for 85 Broads, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Citibank at Work, Healthcare Unbound / IGNITE, HSBC Bank USA, Lean Startup Machine, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, New York City Bar Association, Strata Rx, US Small Business Administration, and Women for Hire.

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